Pacts inked with 22 private hospitals for catering general patients
GUWAHATI: After inking agreements with private hospitals in Guwahati and Dibrugarh to take the load of general patients in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak elsewhere in the country, the Assam government on Sunday signed similar pacts with 22 private hospitals of Silchar for cashless treatment of regular patients.
“Government of Assam has signed an MoU with 22 private hospitals of Silchar for cashless treatment of regular patients at Ayushman Bharat rates to be reimbursed by the government,” state health and family welfare minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma later informed though social media.
“Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) shall be reserved only for COVID-19 patients, other than maternity and emergency cases.
It may be mentioned that Assam Medical College and Hospitals (AMCH) has been dedicated to only coronavirus patients from Sunday and has stopped treating general patients from except those admitted to the cardiology, maternity and burn units. Other general patients of AMCH will be offered treatment in 27 private hospitals and nursing homes.
Similarly, Guwahati Medical College and Hospital too has been converted into a hospital dedicated for coronavirus patients and services has accordingly been restricted to cancer, maternity and emergency wards only from Saturday. As many as 36 private hospitals have signed agreements to take the load of regular patients of government hospitals in the city.
Meanwhile, the state government has decided to set up five pre-fabricated hospitals exclusively for COVID-19 treatment with 300 ICU beds each through public-private cooperation and the locations identified for the same, according to official sources, are Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Silchar, Bongaigaon and Lakhimpur.
The hospitals, which will last about five years, will be ready in the next two months.
“A 300-bed pre-fabricated hospital will be constructed in Silchar as a facility for treatment of COVID patients. Inspected site for the same,” Sarma said on Sunday.